Which Record Brings Back Memories of Your Father?

[Nelson Trask]

Which album in your collection brings back the strongest memories of your dad? Maybe one he played often, gifted you, or left behind?

 

[Eppie]

My father was mostly into classical music but the first record that comes to mind is actually Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I enjoyed those as a kid. He also had a 45 of Speedy Gonzales by Pat Boone.

 

[Verdinut]

My father used to sit Saturday afternoons in the living room, listening to radio broadcasts of the Met Opera. Those radio transmissions are still going on since going back to 1940 when I was born. But one 78 rpm record which I remember he had and I often played in my youth was the classic song entitled "Because" composed by Guy d'Hardelot. This song has been sung and recorded by many operatic baritones and tenors. The 78 I am referring to featured Lauritz Melchior, a famous dramatic Danish tenor who sang Wagner at the Met, and who was 6 ft 4 in and weighed 230 lbs.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Living Strings records, old Bluegrass artists, old Country artists, old hymns of the faith.

 

[lovinthehd]

My dad preferred classical music, which I didn't (and don't) particularly listen to much of. He did surprise me with a little Panasonic sound system when I was 12 that had an 8track player and included the brand new Janis Joplin and The Holding Company's Cheap Thrills album to start with. Surprised the heck out of me.

 

[hemiram]

My dad was older and he got hooked on Hawaiian music when he was in the Pacific on Tinian fixing (Well, trying to fix them, he was totally incompetant as a mechanic) B-29 bombers. I remember "Hawaii Calls" being on WJR on Sat or Sun, while riding in the car, and it seemed to go on forever, but it was at most a 1 hour show. He liked that stuff and big band music from the later 30's, especially instrumentals. I'm with him there, I greatly prefer instrumental stuff more than vocals. One of my records he totally hated was ELP's "Pictures at an Exibition", which I played a lot when I got my first decent system.

 

[MrBoat]

"Mack the Knife." My dad was into the big band stuff that was popular around WW2 and the country artists of the time. He was a big Marty Robbins and Jim Reeves fan as well. The last time I saw him alive, he was becoming more hip and caught me off guard when he told me he liked Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" He watched Ed Sullivan religiously and was a big fan of Mama Cass and Kate Smith. His dad was a touring trombonist during the '30s and '40s with one of the famous big bands of the times.

My father was a big influence on me getting into audio, as was my mother. We always had music around us.

 

[hemiram]

I remember when I bought Mahavishu Orchestra's "The Inner Mounting Flame". I was sick as usual and my dad was too and I forgot he was home, and put it on and he comes in and said, "That's just awful!". When I told him I liked it a lot, especially "The Noonward Race", he just said, "I'm too damn old!" and walked out. When I bought "Birds of Fire" a year later or whenever it was, he saw the name on the album and said, it sounded like 2 cats fighting. He died pretty soon after "Birds" came out.

 

[j_garcia]

Santana - Santana (1969). But my dad is still around.